___ The Human Development Index 2016

Human Development for Everyone

People are the real wealth of a nation. Countries with a high Human Development, foster their people, whereas countries with a low human development seem to treat its people as renewable raw material.
Unfortunately the Human Development Index reflects these facts only to some extent.

Norway, Australia, Switzerland and Germany lead the Human Development Index (HDI) rankings in 2016, eight European countries are in the top 10, followed by the two wealthy countries of North America, Canada and the US, and inbetween the only Asian country, Singapore.

At the bottom of the list are nineteen African countries! The reasons for that are manifold, but the main reasons are a handful: Civil Wars, terrorism and tribal conflicts, widespread corruption, an education and the knowledge gap (many African nations cannot afford basic education), health and poverty (poor African countries with poor living conditions are not able to create a quality health infrastructure for its own people, HIV/AIDS, Malaria, Ebola and other contagious diseases spread more rapidly in communities that are poor and do not have access to basic amenities), geographically disadvantage (a significant number of African countries suffer because they have all the disadvantages to be landlocked). International Aid (some non-governmental organizations have helped Africa through support, but some firms have been accused of using stories of desperate Africans to advance their own selfish goals, others to foster corruption within the country.) (see: 7 Top Reasons Why Africa Is Still Poor, 2017)
The international community should do more to tackle Africa's poverty, otherwise the rich countries will see many more refugees standing at their borders.

The Human Development Report
Each year since 1990 the Human Development Report has published the Human Development Index (HDI) which was introduced as an alternative to conventional measures of national development. The HDI represents a broader definition of well-being and provides a composite measure of three basic dimensions of human development: health, education and income.

Definitions:

Human Development Index (HDI)
The composite index is measuring the average achievement of a country in three basic dimensions of human development:

a long and healthy life

knowledge

a decent standard of living

Life Expectancy Index
The number of years you may live under normal conditions in a particular country.Life expectancy at birth
Number of years a newborn infant could expect to live if prevailing patterns of age-specific mortality rates at the time of birth stay the same throughout the infant's life.

Education Index
Education is a major component of well-being, it is a key factor determining whether a country is a developed, developing, or underdeveloped nation.1. Mean years of schoolingAverage number of years of education received by people ages 25 and older, converted from education attainment levels using official durations of each level.

2. Expected years of schoolingNumber of years of schooling that a child of school entrance age can expect to receive if prevailing patterns of age-specific enrollment rates persist throughout the child's life.

Income Index
It reflects the average income of a country’s citizens. Gross national income (GNI) per capita
The total income of a country's economy generated by its production and its ownership of factors of production, less the incomes paid for the use of factors of production owned by the rest of the world, converted to international dollars using purchasing power parity (PPP) rates, divided by midyear population.

GNI per capita rank minus HDI rank Difference in rankings by GNI per capita and by the HDI. A negative value means that the country is better ranked by its GNI than by its HDI.

Notesa. Data refer to 2015 or the most recent year available.b. In calculating the HDI value, expected years of schooling is capped at 18 years.c. Updated by HDRO using Barro and Lee (2016) estimates.d. Based on data from the national statistical office.e. In calculating the HDI value, GNI per capita is capped at $75,000.f. Based on Barro and Lee (2016).g. Value from UNDESA (2011).h. Calculated as the average of mean years of schooling for Austria and Switzerland.i. Estimated using the purchasing power parity (PPP) rate and projected growth rate of Switzerland.j. Estimated using the PPP rate and projected growth rate of Spain.k. Based on cross-country regression.l. HDRO estimate based on data from World Bank (2016a) and United Nations Statistics Division (2016a).m. Updated by HDRO based on data from UNESCO Institute for Statistics (2016).n. Based on data from United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys for 2006–2015.o. Updated by HDRO based on data from ICF Macro Demographic and Health Surveys for 2006-2015.p. Based on a cross-country regression and the projected growth rate from UNECLAC (2016).q. Based on data from ICF Macro Demographic and Health Surveys for 2006-2015.r. Value from WHO (2016).s. Updated by HDRO based on Syrian Center for Policy Research (2016).t. Based on projected growth rates from UNESCWA (2016) and World Bank (2016a).